Stuge

Could be used to distinguish between target types, bomber vs fighter etc, similarly to how the Russian radars show target size directly on the radar scopes. If a similar analogy is followed, then: Small = missile (antiship, SEAD, etc.. air to air missiles obviously don't show), drone (Predator) Medium = fighter Large = bomber / passenger plane / cargo plane / AWACS / air refueler

There is also a related low FPS issue, triggered by spawning several times in the same area. I feel this and the TWS bug are related because they both appeared out of the blue at roughly the same time. This respawn-related issue is more troublesome actually because it doesn't take time to accumulate, it appears usually immediately after a second respawn in a dogfight scenario, thus making F-15C BFM practice a painstaking affair, requiring mission reload after every fight. And yes it is F-15C exclusive. May also related to hosting since I always get this bug when hosting, but not necessarily when playing on other servers. Memory leak doesn't make sense in this case... at least not to a layman :)

I'm starting to be kinda happy that I flew enough Blue Flag last round to fulfill my meter of it... forever :D Now I don't have to anymore, just reading this thread a little and realizing I'm not flying feels like vacation!

It's the RAM. 8 GB equals stutters, and the Nevada map is unplayable with 8 GB. Now with 16 everything is so much smoother! TGP-induced FPS drop can be prevented by unselecting the "every frame" option from cockpit display resolution setting. You can still use max resolution for the displays, but having them render every frame can kill your FPS. Oh and don't forget to disable mirrors, they have always been an FPS killer!

Of course Flankers can be dangerous in the open too. An EOS stealth attack be pulled off in the open, provided the bad guy is looking at something else. Also the ET missile can be used successfully head-on against afterburning targets that do not suspect it. Even max range shots can hit in this case. But if the opponent is mentally prepared for this, he will come off afterburner, pop a few flares, laugh, and shoot an AMRAAM in your face :D

Scytale, things to consider.. Standard DCS multiplayer missions (the ones where you find lots of players) are not based on realistic scenarios. The main mission for a fighter is usually take off, fly to the combat zone (bullseye), and find things to kill while the other team does the same. It's Team Deathmatch for fighters and a shooting gallery for strikers. This alone degrades the realism. Considering F-15C vs Su-27, the Su-27 is practically forced to use ambush tactics in the mountains because the Eagle's AIM-120 missile is so superior out in the open. This is the main reason. The Eagle absolutely destroys the Flanker in the open, when piloted by skilled pilots. The Eagle's multi-launch capability also means that a lone Eagle can easily give a big headache to even larger groups of Flankers. Now the other features of Su-27 give it the actual advantage over F-15C in mountain combat / ambush tactics / cat and mouse: -superior AND stealthy close range scanning and IFF capabilities (vertical scan!!) With a good technique the Flanker pilot can reliably scan his entire 60-degree cone front sector in 1-2 seconds. The Eagle struggles with this as its vertical scan does not lock instantly. -stealthy medium range missile! (R-27ET) -superior dogfight missile with helmet sight (R-73) -superior dogfighting capabilities (unless too heavy with fuel) -datalink map with AWACS/Ground radar support (if available in mission) These tactics have been born out of necessity, just like many unforeseen real-world tactics have been created in real-world conflicts. If you take away the F-15's AMRAAM, or alternatively give the Su-27 a missile of equal capabilities (current R-77 barely qualifies but would be better than nothing) then the Su-27 would not need to hide in the shadows so much, but could confidently and openly challenge the F-15 head-to-head when necessary. The high and fast approach is actually a very good approach for the F-15C and can easily provide you an offensive edge against a lower-altitude, slower target. You can also get quite long range kills against medium-high targets. The only "problem", if you may, is that high-to-low AMRAAMs can be spoofed by beaming, which means that against a well defending target you may still be forced to close the distance, forcing you to descend on the target into dogfight ranges. Now if at this point the target manages to hide behind a hill, or just make you break lock / lose sight, you will be in big trouble soon!! :)

Such a complex approach Sweeps! Here's what I do 1) Look at the bad guy and visualize the moment when his plane explodes into pieces. 2) His plane explodes into pieces. 3) Enjoy the explosion (positive affirmation, most important step!) Things don't have to be complicated... :)

Respect for writing the guide! Internal fuel capability is 13500 lbs, not 14500 ;) As someone already said the fuel dump (R key) would be good to mention, I think it's still a "half-secret" it exists, people are not very aware of it.

The second sentence... "takes weeks to months to master compared to years with full DCS modules". Do you know what mastery really means? :) Many pilots with years and years of Eagle experience don't even come close to reaching mastery in a single aspect of flight or combat, let alone total mastery.. I'm not sure there even exists a person in the DCS community who could be called a real master of all aspects of flying and fighting in the F-15C. Considering the spectrum of combat complexity, I would claim it is currently the widest in F-15C, easily surpassing all high fidelity modules and slightly surpassing the Russian FC3 fighters. This is because of the Eagle's superior kinematic, sensory, and weapons capabilities. With great capability comes great complexity.

Sweep i think you just proved that fat can be beautiful..

I think it's the other way around. I also asked Garrus he agrees.

Mirage doesn't fly circles anymore.. just had a testing sessions in Nevada (2.0) and it has definitely lost a significant amount of mojo. At full fuel the thing probably can't keep up at all with flankers or eagles... and once you go below 200 kts... it's a real energy sink now :)

Not just the rate.. in degrees per second.. but what leads to rate - rotational acceleration in all axes... it truly is the nimblest of predators! I wonder though.. since slow speed scissoring and "hanging midair" is quite a common occurrence in DCS dogfights, imagine having an RCS system installed, like in spacecraft, tiny little thrusters for rotational control, even at zero speed! Would be better than vectored thrust in zero speed situations.

I like that.

I guess mouse control would be reasonable. However, given that the devs seem to be very overloaded and even relatively major bugs can take months/years to fix, implementing something which is by default not a part of the sim must be veeeeery low on the priority list...

This has been a well-known issue within the MP community for a while now. It is definitely related to the TWS mode. At approximately same times appeared another FPS drop issue which I can describe: It appears with the F-15C exclusively (not Su-27 for example) and is best seen during close combat air start multiplayer scenarios where players spawn several times and crash nearby. After one or a few flights and crashes the frame rates go to the bottom, but only when looking at the previous crash site/battle area! However, the problem seems to occur even if players despawn before crashing into ground.. maybe just a piece fallen off an aircraft triggers it? This has also been confirmed with several players so I am not hallucinating it :)

I'm sure it's a nice mod, but surely using it on a supposedly mod-free public server ventures to the cheating side of the spectrum... how could anyone call exporting real time data from game files not cheating :) I see best use in private online sessions and offline.

The new stress damage model does make it much trickier I agree, to the point that the Su-27 has lost a significant part of its close range defensive potential, and is now quite outclassed by the F-15 in this scenario :) I am not used to this at all yet... I guess I would say it depends in what way you decide you want to defeat the missile, kinematically or breaking lock with the notch. This in turn depends on the range of the shot - get close enough and kinematic defeat is impossible. Kinematically ---> high speed and turn back then snake. Notching ---> slow down for better control and less risk of breaking the thing. This will put you in a good speed to turn hot hard to defend what is likely to follow: heatseekers, maybe even a gunshot, into the merge and ensuing dogfight :) If you start this terminal defense too early (perhaps because of an incoming heatseeker) and the attacker is smart enough to fire another radar missile shot, then you're dead :) The trick is to turn in so close that any radar missile shot at that time will not accelerate enough to maneuver for a hit. Things also get tricky if you have multiple amraams incoming - they can easily come from slightly different angles, meaning that you can't notch them all at the same time.

Bush I can send you my track... Beautiful vid Skycap! Edit: 2v2 cockpit tracks including the final added here, can be modified for external views and freely used for videomaking/educational material/whatever: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u6t0l3tcvqyie7m/AABNe-TRtPwDHHvtzwhLfC0Sa?dl=0 Notice: the flanker tracks seem to have replay problems because of wings breaking where they shouldn't :) To replay these correctly you should use a pre-Su27-wing-break version of DCS.

Quickest way probably is grind experience :) But make it with a friend, 1v1, airstart, and practice it 1-2 hours straight several times a week you'll get good ;) Oh and keep in mind the notch is only reliable if the enemy radar (be it missile or aircraft radar) is looking downwards against the terrain. In co-altitude and look-up situations the notch is not reliable.

Low altitude/diving notch. At least momentarily. Once you think the missile's defeated, turn back hot. :) Continuing towards the missile at short ranges is just asking for trouble, there are really no guarantees of survival... As a desperate defense you can try shooting down an AMRAAM with R73 or R27ET (longitudinal mode works best for this) but my last test indicates this is not a very reliable method currently :):):)

Vikhr seems to not track. I usually aim so that I put the target in the bottom edge of the aiming circle, this way the missile doesn't have to pull up at all after launch so it's more reliable, I think the aim circle is not aligned perfectly. When fired from closer than max range (like in the video also) any misalignment can lead to missile to oscillating and missing or even losing track completely like in this case... or it may be another reason I don't know about :)

Haha for now Sweeper is the only one I've seen demonstrate this with some proficiency :) Not powerful enough to warrant getting dual throttle, but surely a must learn if one has a dual throttle! Some day I will get it and use it... poor man's vectored thrust :D

AWACS/GCI + Su-27 = CTD issue seems to have been resolved in latest patch. I can fly Su-27 freely again wohoo! I am not denying other possible issues caused by having AWACS on servers, but this one certainly disappeared :)

If you think of the complexity of air to air combat itself, FC3 is easily the most complex and hardest to master. Currently, flying any other modules will not teach you how to to fight in FC3 fighters. While if you master FC3, getting into the other modules is relatively easy and is mainly about learning the systems and the flight model quirks. This is simply because FC3 fighters have the highest performance capabilities (flight performance, missile performance and sensors) and only with these high performance combat situations can you see and utilize the full spectrum of flight and missile dynamics. Example: You cannot learn to defeat antiaircraft missiles kinematically unless you have a high performance fighter with a proper RWR to give a good launch warning indication.